Unaddressed Problems in Poverty

In his violence speech, Gary Haugen explains how addressing law enforcement and stopping everyday violence needs to be a priority in the fight against poverty. The civil rights lawyer expresses his wish that we have compassion for poor people in developing countries living outside the rule of law. Even though the number of people living in extreme poverty ($1.25 a day) went down from 50% 35 years ago to 15% today, the 2 billion people living on $2 a day need our help.

The moving talk identifies the fact that none of the traditional anti-poverty programs and less than 1% of poverty-related aid do not address violence. The answer isn't putting new laws in place, but fixing broken law enforcement systems and refusing to let impunity run rampant. Another problem discussed in the violence speech is that rich people within developing communities can simply pay for private security the poor don't have access to.

The violence speech advocates for making law enforcement indispensable in eradicating global poverty and suggests seriously investing resources and sharing expertise to support the developing world to establish new forms of public security.